Sunday, July 29, 2012

Time to share our family 4th of July before July becomes history. Glen and I and two thirds of the rest of the family gathered in Provo for the big day because Provo always does it BIG. The day started with a parade, but even before that the parade route was a bit of an overnight party and part of a 10 K and 5 K run.

Parade route rules state that you can camp overnight on University Avenue but Center Street is off limits until 4:30 am. This means that the wagons are circling before that time and then there is a territory land grab.

This year son Eric and Glen were the early risers and savers of a viewing space.

It was right across the street from a review stand and bleachers in front of the park just west of 700 East on Center. This meant that there were also announcers with annoying loud music and the need to subdue anything which went "pop" including the kids favorite poppers. What??!!??

But we carried on in spite of the restrictions. Here are posed shots of the clan. N & N with OJ and Nana.

TJ, Tobes, and Heder.

Eric and Susan. (I couldn't think of any nicknames so I will have to work on that!)

The big Kahuna and his new phone.

And the Ranes family.

There was a constant adjusting of seating.

And mixing up of cousins.

After a long wait, here are a few of our favorite things.

Barbershop heads that sang

Senior Senators

Multiple marching bands

Pretty girls on city floats

Horses and horse drawn conveyances

A reminder that BYU football is just around the corner

Floating dragons

Dancing brides for seven brothers (soon to be seen at Sundance Summer Theatre)

Helaman's warriors, AKA Mormon missionaries

TJ gives a high five. Hard to believe that his time may be less than six years away.

More pretty girls on floats

More floating creatures

Disney princesses including Nana's favorite

Scottish bag pipers

Pink tractors

More pretty girls on floats

And the finale, a drum and bugle corp from back East shown here playing specifically for Utah Governor Herbert.

Then is was back to the townhouse for the popping of those supposedly illegal poppers, lunch, and naps.

The naps were important because we had tickets for the Stadium of Fire in the BYU Stadium that evening. Why the beach ball? Because the main performers were The Beach Boys! Glen had been looking forward to sharing their live brand of music with the troops for months!

We were looking forward to a good time and were not disappointed!

The back of the tickets prohibited bringing anything into the stadium that couldn't fit in a 12 X12 inch bag. My purse was selected to be the carrier of airless beach balls hidden under a contrived false bottom. They assumed that I would be the least likely person to be suspected of carrying in contraband.

Well that was a fallacy. As the man slowly worked his way to the bottom of my bag he asked, "And what are these mam?" I honestly hesitated for a few seconds but it was obviously deflated beach balls so I said, "Why those are beach balls."

"Okay mam," and he waved me on through. See, it pays to be honest and honestly there were many, many beach balls in that stadium along with many people our age with their families in tow.

It was a beautiful sky as the sun disappeared in the northwest.

Glen and I first went to a Beach Boys concert at the University of Utah as BYU students on one of our first dates so we have a history with the "boys." Glen also feels a kinship with these musicians who grew up as he did in Hawthorne, California.

There were many things before The Beach Boys came out but they did present a fairly long and comprehensive concert.

Here is a shot of The Stadium of Fire dancers who also eventually had beach balls.

I was delighted that Scotty McCreery, American Idol winner, also sang. What a voice for such a youngster.

And finally it was time.

The grand kids had a great time dancing and singing along, oh, and batting around those beach balls.

That's really them, I promise. And they may be old like Glen and I but they sounded GREAT!

They were followed by fireworks set to James Bond movie theme songs.

Followed by patriotic songs sung by a choir.

It was impossible to catch a great shot of the fireworks.

But they really were awesome. It took awhile for everyone to navigate traffic and make our way back to the townhouse. Everyone slept in the next morning.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

I managed to finish my "Betsy" Schnibbles by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. in time to have a patriotic table cover for a Provo 4th of July at the townhouse. I picked up this pattern and fabric while in California in March.

While shopping, I came across Prairie Paisley II by Minick & Simpson for Moda Fabrics which I loved. I also happened upon a entire wall of Schnibbles patterns including "Betsy" copyright of 2008. Carrie had used two charm packs of Flag Day Farm also my Minick & Simpson. No wonder the Prairie Paisley II spoke to me for my own "Betsy" small quilt. I bought two charm packs and was out the door.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

One of my ancestors not only traveled by covered wagon across the plains to Utah with Mormon pioneers, he also cut stone from coast to coast. I wanted to share his story on this Pioneer Day, a holiday widely shared in Utah where the first Mormon pioneers arrived on July 24, 1847.

William Jones was a stone cutter born about 1799 in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the son of Edward Jones and Elizabeth Ellis. In 1825 he married Elizabeth Hughes in New York City. William and Elizabeth spent at least eight years in New York City where the first five children, Catherine Ann, Mary Elizabeth, William(2), Rebecca and Charlotte were born. Rebecca died as an infant. The Jones family traveled with converts to the new Mormon religion, following church prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. From 1836 to September 1840 the family was in Cincinnati, Ohio where they appear as members of the Loraine Branch. The next three children, Mercy, Mary, and Anna were born there. From late 1840 to 1844 the Jones family was in the city of Nauvoo. Here Sarah Matilda and David Carlos were born.

Nauvoo Temple 1847

Once in Nauvoo, William worked as a stone cutter on the Nauvoo Temple. From William Clayton's temple record:

The following is a list of the stone cutters who cut the stone for the Temple, to-wit:Alvin Winegar, James Standing, Harvey Stanley, Daniel S. Cahoon, Andrew Cahoon, Stephen Hales, Jr., William Jones (he cut the first plinth), John Keown, Rufus Allen, Samuel Hodge, Bun Anderson and George Ritchey. These persons were among the first who commenced cutting stone for the Temple and have continued to the close.

What is a plinth? This is a picture taken of the rebuilt temple in Nauvoo. A plinth serves as a base for pillars or other decorative work. This is a copy of the original corner plinths and is called "a moon stone."

From a chronology compiled of the construction time table of the Nauvoo Temple:

11 Jun 1842 -- James Whitehead added as a clerk to the Temple Recorders staff. Later John P. McEwan was appointed assistant clerk. (Clayton, "Nauvoo Temple History Journal," p. 19; William Clayton Journal, Journal History, 31 Dec 1844, CA.) On this date William Player also set the first plinth, or moonstone, on the southeast corner. (Journal History, 11 Oct 1842, CA.) The moonstones were deeply carved relief of a crescent moon, facing downward, with a man's face in profile. Each stone was cut from solid stone. (New York Messenger, 20 Sept 1845.) The first plinth was cut by William Jones. (William's Clayton's Journal, Journal History, 31 Dec 1844, CA.)

On 27 May 1850, the temple was struck by a tornado which toppled one
wall, and there was a demolition of two more walls in the
interests of public safety, leaving only the facade standing. By this time William Jones and his family were on their way to the Salt Lake Valley where William continued to be a stone cutter.

Elizabeth Hughes Jones also did important work in Nauvoo. She was one of the 18 founding members of the first Relief Society Organization. I found this information online:

Relief Society Magazine (May 1942 page 306) gives information on each of
the eighteen charter members of the Relief Society organized by the
Prophet Joseph Smith. Elizabeth was one of these original members. The
magazine gives this information: "Elizabeth Hughes Jones was born in
New York City in 1803, the daughter of Katherine and John Hughes. The
Hughes were converted in New York and gathered to Missouri with the
Saints. Elizabeth was faithful and dependable. Hyrum Smith gave her a
Patriarchal Blessing."

The stay in Utah was relatively brief; records show that William Jones, Sr. was baptized 5 January 1851 in Salt Lake, but the family was in southern California by 1854. Family tradition states that the Jones family "came West with the Mormons after spending a few years in Salt Lake City. The family was in San Bernadino briefly; that's where Elizabeth Jones who married H.K. Geary, was born." The Mormon settlement of southern California, begun about 1852, ended suddenly, in 1857. when church members sent on the original mission to California were recalled to Utah. The Jones family stayed in California, however, moving north to reside briefly in San Francisco where William helped to build the custom house and also worked as a stone cutter in the building of the forts in the old state house. The move to Alameda County may have taken place just after 1860. The 1867 Alameda County voter record shows William Jones, age sixty-eight, in Mission San Jose. Family tradition, "the family moved up to Mission San Jose and were there many years. There are Jones buried there" In 1870 William, age seventy-two and listing his birthplace as Pennsylvania, appears in the census records in Washington Township in Alameda County in the household of his daughter Anna Maria Stiver. William died in 1888.

The above grave marker is found in the Centerville Pioneer Cemetery in Fremont, Alameda County, California.

The rebuilt Nauvoo Temple today

I have been curious for years about William and Elizabeth Jones and am appreciative of the ability to so easily search for answers from online sources. Their 2nd oldest daughter and my great great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth, (told more about here) married Job Pitcher Hall on 26 Feb 1848 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois and gave birth to her second baby while on the plains at Strawberry Creek on the way to Salt Lake on September 8, 1950. I will save the rest of their story for a later post.